1. Total Quantity – defines the aggregate order size (e.g., shares, contracts);
2. Trade Increment – defines the unit (e.g., shares, contracts) size for each component order;
3. Time Increment – defines the period of time (seconds, minutes or hours) between the submission of a component order and the submission of the following order;
4. Order Type – may select from market, limit or relative. A market order will be executed at the ask price and should only be used where, for example, a stock is highly liquid with significant bid-ask sizes. Limit and Relative order types require that the trader specify additional order relationships and the choices are numerous. The execution price, for example, may be specified as being relative to a fixed value, bid, ask or last price, VWAP, moving average or last trade. These choices may be increased or decreased by an offset factor and multiple conditions may be established. For example, one may wish to create a relative order type to match the bid price plus an offset factor of $0.01 and to ensure that they don’t lift the ask if the spread is $0.01, add a condition that the bid be no less that $0.02 beneath the ask price.
5. How to Operate – if the trader does not check the box titled “Wait for current order to fill before submitting next order” then orders which do not meet the price conditions will continue to accumulate in accordance with the established time increment, the unexecuted orders will be aggregated into one or more potentially sizable orders at the exchange. If this box is checked, then the more restrictive the buying conditions, the greater the likelihood that the algorithm will fall behind its schedule of buying or selling at every ‘X’ interval.  If this box is checked the trader may then check the box titled “Catch up in time”. When that box has been checked and should the algorithm fall behind, the next orders will be placed immediately after their predecessor fills until such time the algorithm has caught up.
6. Randomization – check boxes are provided to allow for a +/- 20% randomization in the time increment and a +/- 55% randomization in the trade increment. Accordingly, in the case of a 30 second time increment, this would allow for randomization of between 24 and 36 seconds between orders and in the case of a 500 share trade increment, this would allow for randomization of between 200 and 800 shares (rounded to the nearest round lot) per order. Randomization serves to minimize the likelihood of others detecting your order.
7. RTH – a check box is provided which will allow the order to be filled outside of regular trading hours.
8. Take up Offer Size – if a limit or relative order type is selected, the trader may input an order size which if bid (in the case of a sell order) or offered (in the case of a buy order) the trader would be willing to take in its entirety, up to the remaining portion of the total order quantity (satisfies the price conditions).

1. Price Range - traders may specify a price range outside of which they do not want to buy the stock;
2. News – the trader may stop the algorithm for some period of time if there is news on the stock, for example;
3. Position - traders may stop the algorithm based upon their position in the stock; For example, a trader running multiple algorithms one to buy the stock and another to sell in an attempt to trade the stock back and forth for a profit may decide to suspend one side if the position becomes substantially imbalanced;
4. Stock Path – a trader, for example, may wish to suspend the algorithm if a given moving average, say the 10-minute VWAP is not at least as high as another average, say the 50-day moving average. This feature enables you to set up algorithms to trade chart points even when you are not looking at the chart at that moment;
5. Stock Path for Multiple Symbols – this condition is similar to the last except that it calls for two symbols. Here you can put in any symbol and compare some data point regarding that symbol (e.g., 10-minute VWAP, etc.) to the same or a different data point regarding the second symbol. These comparative conditions can apply to different symbols or to the same symbol.   For example, you could specify that you want to buy a certain stock only if it has been in a continuous uptrend. So in addition to the 10-minute VWAP being higher than the 50-day moving average, you would also like the 10-day moving average to be higher than the 30-day moving average on this stock.

1. Products – any product offered by IB (stocks, options, ETFs, bonds, futures, Forex) other than mutual funds;
2. Order Type – market, limit or relative.

IMPORTANT NOTE

This algo will only operate when the trader is logged into the TWS.  If the trader has been logged out prior to the algo completing (either by user action or by the automated nightly restart), a message will appear upon the next log in which will allow for re-activation of the algo.

Margin for Withdrawal Example

In the following example, assume the base currency for the account is USD and the net asset value positions (the sum of the values of all stock, cash, option, etc positions in each currency) are as follows:

• USD 50,000
• EUR 30,000
• CHF -39,000
• MXN -100,000

1. Determine the net asset value (net liquidation value) for each currency. In this example, this is shown in columns 1 and 2 of the example table.
2. Convert all non-base currency positions to base currency using prevailing market rates between the asset currency and base currency, here, USD. (column 3). This result is shown in column 4.
3. Apply the margin rate for each currency (column 5).
4. Calculate the margin in base currency as the net asset value from each original currency converted to USD multiplied by the margin for that currency (column 4 times column 5). The result is shown in column 6.
5. The total margin requirement is the sum of each currency sourced margin requirement. In our example, the total margin requirement in base currency, USD, is $2,126. As the total net liquidating value expressed in USD is $46,476, the available funds is the difference, $44,350.

The "Market Value" section of the Account Window, within TWS, is a real-time reflection of the account's currency balances.  Clients can see their balance in any currency at that moment by referring to the Market Value section. If the Market Value section is not reflecting all currency positions you think you hold, look to the right of the words "Market Value" and click on the green plus sign ( + ). This will expand the Market Value section fully. You can see the cash balance being held in each currency, along with the Net Liquidation Value of those same currencies. The Net Liquidation Value will reflect the current cash balance, along with any interest payable/receivable and the value of any securities held in the account which are denominated in that currency. 

The "FX Portfolio" section of the Account Window, within TWS, is utilized primarily by clients who actively trade and speculate in the Forex market. They use this FX Portfolio to keep track of all currency crosses they have open at a given time.  When they close these positions, they reset their FX portfolio to zero. The FX portfolio reflects net trades done in a currency pair over a given period of time. If a client does not reset the FX portfolio after each trade, the result is that it does not show an accurate reflection of the account's currency positions/balances. Rather it is a net total of trades done in that currency pair, which could include trades, conversions, etc. It will not be an accurate representation of the account's currency positions or balances.  In order to reset the FX Portfolio, you can right-click on any Forex pair line. A small window appears, and in that window select Adjust Position or Average price. Another small box will appear, and in that box change the position and price to 0 (zero). Click OK, and the FX Portfolio will reset for that particular currency pair.  

To reiterate the above point, the Market Value section of your Account Window will show your real-time balances/positions in any currency. 

It is important to note that changing your Base Currency does not serve to convert existing cash balances or change the denomination of a security into any other currency.  Cash balances will remain in their currency of denomination unless converted via IB's IdealPro (for balances of at least USD 25,000 or equivalent) or odd lot (for balances below USD 25,000 or equivalent) Forex venues.  Similarly, the denomination of securities and commodities positions cannot be changed as this is determined by the listing exchange.